There have always been people who deny many of the very basic truths of science. Some do so because they can’t find it in the Bible, as some of my fundamentalist relatives used to say. Others, because those truths unsettle their basic way of looking at the world, not to mention themselves.
Since the time of Copernicus and Galileo, narrow-minded authorities have stepped in to limit questions they don’t like and answers that may be unsettling. Greed also plays an important part in the efforts to deny the effects of deforestation, strip mining, open coal pits – you name it.
In Davos at the World Economic forum, the Amazon heard a breath of fresh air from Brazil’s new Environmental Minister Marina Silva, who emphasized the importance of saving the Amazon, sometimes called the lungs of the world. She noted, however, that all of us need to step in and share our resources with each other, sort of like Jesus’ command to give that extra cloak to someone who has none.
Prayer for the Day
We, who live with such surplus, come to you, O God,
Asking what we need to share with others;
We, who do not worry about our next meal or housing,
Realize that there are many who have nothing.
Grant, O Lord, that we live what we say,
So we open more than our hearts to others.
In the name of the One who is our model,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
In an age of inequity and climate crisis, one thing we all find in common is that civilization will have to reinvent itself. And it is against this backdrop that we have to rethink how our democracies operate.
- Marina Silva, Environmental Minister, Brazil
Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.
- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Who rises up for us against the wicked?
Who stands up for us against evildoers?
If the Lord had not been our help, we would have lived in the land of silence.
When I thought, “My foot is slipping,” your love, O Lord, held me up.
Psalm 94: 16-18